Hamilton Cave - Austin TX

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In addition to enjoying a few nights of Austin's great music scene we followed Anna's recommendation and drove about an hour outside of Austin to see Hamilton Pool Nature Preserve (aka Hamilton Cave). We understood that it was an area that had an incredible pool for swimming and an interesting rock formation. The weather was iffy, but today was our only chance to see it. The sky was soon alive with lightening and rain but we continued our "take to the waters" quest when Karena showed no fear braving the weather. I, however, was a bit more reticent, but went along. After 10-15 minutes hiking down a creek valley we thought that we should take some shelter from the downpour. It didn't take long to realize that our "dry" spot was flooding fast so we sprinted to the cave. What a sight! More spectacular that we had imagined, the rain created waterfalls everywhere while we were protected by a giant overhang of rock. The park ranger inside the cave said that we could explore a bit, but that she was awaiting word from on high whether the weather warranted an evacuation. No sooner had we started looking around when she began shouting to the handful of us in the cave that we must evacuate "NOW!" - a flash flood could happen at any time. As we scurried for higher ground and safety we felt that we had successfully "taken to the waters" in Austin.

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